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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:33 pm
by jem
Does a short steer produce the same amount of meat as a non-short? ie. is it just the legs which are shorter or is the entire frame smaller?
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:57 pm
by Broomcroft
Hi Jem
According to my stats, it varies, but generally a short-leg will produce less meat. But you can have quite big, meaty shorts, and quite tall skinny longs. The bone structure also plays a big part I feel. I have had one short who was like a mammoth, but turned out to be all bone. Others have been great. The best figures I have seen so far are generally from square-built, stocky non-shorts. I just got 230kg deadweight last week from a steer at 24 months that was a stocky long-leg. But they are all good.
I think most people will agree that shorts will finish a little easier on ordinary grass. Quite often the differences in figures can be down to how they were reared and the quality of the grazing, not the type of animal.
The best figures I have ever achieved, by miles was a 26 month old, unworked bull. His figures were stunning and equivalent to a well-reared Limousin (percentage-wise), even though he lived on grass alone. The beef was excellent and very well-marbled, but it also included just a few really tough steaks that would have been better for making shoes if you'd have managed to get the nails through! So we won't be doing a bull again because we well our meat and everyone remembers the bad steak more than they do the good ones. If we were doing it for ourselves, another bull would tempt me.
Edited By Broomcroft on 1225821556
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:01 am
by welshdexterboy
We have sold both short and long and generally you get a better return from the long IMHO but like everything else it is all in the hands of the individual animal :p
There are no set rules they are all individuals and that is how it goes :D
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 8:28 am
by Broomcroft
We don't "well our meat" by the way, we "sell our meat". The system won't let me edit the posting to correct the mistake. Welling is not some sort of new process in the meat industry.
Edited By Broomcroft on 1225870281
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:10 am
by Sylvia
And there was me thinking it was an innovative way of chilling, Clive. Instead of into the freezer down to the cooling depths of a well. How disappointing to find it was just a typo. 
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:23 am
by Rutherford
I cant track it down but the South Africans conducted some comparison trials and established that the shorts would stop laying on meat once the skeleton finished growing which happens at an earlier age than in the long, they then used the feed to lay on fat rather than meat.
Beryl (Woodmagic)
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:14 am
by Broomcroft
My shorts always finish earlier than the longs when on the same grazing, probably by about 2-3 months, so that makes sense. I get similar results with stockier longs as well. The taller ones are much harder to fill out which is why I'm keen to see the dexter keep to a low height and size. For me personally it's nothing to do with anything other than if you get over-high they will need filling in the other directions as well, and then you loose the ability to finish on grazing alone (at a reasonable age) which for me is what our cattle are all about and why we have dexters on our farm, and where a lot of the flavour comes from I feel.
Edited By Broomcroft on 1225876720
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:26 am
by welshdexterboy
It is ( without offending anyone please) commomn sense that a short would finish sooner as they are at the end sooner. Everything grows from babies to a framhow many of you have sons who go from little boys to ganglling lads then they muscle up then with middle age they start storing fat instead of muscle. Cattle are the same short boys -- short cattle reach there destination sooner. Except humans can choose their destination thank goodness